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Watch out: ɢoogle.com isn’t the same as Google.com

Update 11/22/2016: Apparently, the post you are reading right now might be in your Google Analytics as referral traffic. Please note that neither this article, nor The Next Web, is partaking of any shady analytics practices.

If you don’t watch where you’re going on the internet, you might be headed down a dark alley before you know it.

When you point your browser to ɢoogle.com, it’s actually leading you to xn--oogle-wmc.com, which in turn refers to the following address:

Yeah, that sounds fishy enough, and I don’t recommend visiting it. It’s definitely not the same as google.com, and looks spammy enough to potentially do harm to your computer.

Our analytics team immediately identified the link as spam, and most TNW readers would probably do the same when they come across it. But most people online — like your grandparents, kids or the president-elect — probably wouldn’t think twice about clicking it.

Even though ɢoogle.com seems to only be used for Trump spam, other safe-looking links might lead to more harmful websites — and that’s why it’s important to stay aware of where you’re going at all times.